Fatality
In the Mortal Kombat series of fighting games, a Fatality is a special finishing move that can be used against one's opponent at the end of the final match. When the announcer says "Finish Him" or "Finish Her" if the opponent is female, the player can choose to kill him or her through a fatality move. If input correctly, the background will darken, followed by the desired result. Unlike special moves, a Fatality may require certain distances and quick button sequences in order to achieve the desired result. For example, in Mortal Kombat 3, one of Sub-Zero's Fatalities requires that he stands close to the opponent and quickly execute Block, Block, Run, Block, Run. Every character has their own special Fatality that must be performed at a certain distance from the opponent. The number of Fatalities varies depending on the game; while characters in Mortal Kombat and Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance had only one, Mortal Kombat 3 and its updates featured as many as four. In the movie, the word "Fatality" is actually said once by Shang Tsung. Fatality-style finishing moves have also appeared in other fighting games from Midway (Killer Instinct, War Gods, Bio F.R.E.A.K.S., Mace: The Dark Age), and other companies (Blood Warrior/Ooedo Fight, Tattoo Assassins, Deadliest Warrior: The Game, Way of the Warrior, Primal Rage), though they are not named as such usually. The beginning With Street Fighter II dominating arcades, Mortal Kombat co-creators Ed Boon and John Tobias wanted to create a fighting game that retained Street Fighter's gameplay without being a complete copy. Originally, the project revolved around actor Jean Claude Van Damme; this idea was eventually dropped and Mortal Kombat was born. Tobias and Boon started with Street Fighter II's system and retained many of its conventions (fireball-style projectile attacks, one on one matches, minigames, etc.), but tweaked others (the block button, special endurance matches, juggling, etc.). The most notable additions were graphic blood and Fatality finishing moves. Traditional fighting games ends with the loser knocked unconscious and the victor posing for the players; characters never died during a match. The idea of a Fatality proved very popular with fans. Fatality types *Decapitation - The most recurring type. Removes the head from the body through blunt force, forcefully removed or a slicing weapon (e.g., Sub-Zero's signature 'Spine Rip'). *Immolation - Another common type. Victim suffers from severe burns from high-powered flames that often remove skin and flesh from the body, leaving behind charred bone (e.g., Scorpion's signature 'Toasty!'). *Crush - A common type of Fatality. Crushes the opponent to death either with telekinetic powers, physical force or a machine (e.g., Cyrax's 'Trash Compactor') *Bifurcation/Vivisection - Splits the victim in half at the waist area, vertically, or in the head (e.g., Kung Lao's 'Razor's Edge'). *Explosion - Reduces the victim into a pile of gore through explosive techniques and/or devices (e.g., Stryker's 'Have a Blast'). *Impalement - Runs the opponent through, often with a sharp weapon (e.g., Jade's 'Half Mast'). *Skinning - Skins the opponent alive, either by being burned or with physical force (e.g. Sheeva's 'Stripped Down') *Amputation - Removes appendages through forceful means. Victim dies of blood loss (e.g., Noob Saibot's 'As One'). *Gash - Creates a big wound or multiple smaller wounds on the opponent with a sharp weapon. Victim dies of blood loss (e.g., Kabal's 'It takes Guts') *Devour - Kills opponent by eating a part or their entire body (e.g., Reptile's signature 'Tasty Meal'). *Morphing - Changes into someone else to kill the opponent in a gruesome fashion (e.g., Shang Tsung's 'Bang Bang!'). *Suicide - Kills the opponent by killing themselves in one way or another (e.g., Sub-Zero's 'Kold Fusion') *2 in 1 - A new version of the traditional fatality demonstrated in Mortal Kombat 9, where most kombatants finish off the victim with a combination of two previous Fatalities (e.g., Johnny Cage's 'Heads Up!') *Miscellaneous - Fatalities of a unique nature not shared with others (e.g., Kenshi's 'Scatterbrained'). Other Finishers *Animality - This finisher allows the player to morph into an animal and maul or eat their opponent alive. This style of Fatality debuted in Mortal Kombat 3. Some say the precursor to the Animality was Liu Kang's Dragon Fatality from Mortal Kombat II, in which he turned into a dragon and ate the upper half of his opponent. That Fatality was turned into Liu Kang's Animality in UMK3. Also, since Sheeva turned into a scorpion for her Animality, Scorpion got a penguin transformation. Due to this, the MK crew got complaints from the fans, so the crew added, in MK4, a scorpion transformation as one of his Fatalities. *Brutality - Introduced in Mortal Kombat Trilogy and the SNES and Sega Genesis ports of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, this finisher allowed players to perform a combo which would end in a uppercut, causing the opponent to explode. Brutalities were not very popular, as they were extremely difficult to accomplish, requiring the player to memorize and perform a special 11-hit combo. Many felt the pay-off was lacking with the only result being a fiery explosion where the victim disappears and an unrealistic amount of bone and flesh are sent flying and covering most of the screen. In some versions, the bone and flesh flies completely offscreen. This finisher didn't appear in another game until Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks, in which it wasn't explicitly used as a finisher, but rather as a power-up. *Weapon Fatality - In addition to Mortal Kombat: Tournament Edition one Fatality by character, there's also a new kind of (unlockable) finisher. The weapon Fatalities are basically Fatalities, but all the character does is to use his/her weapon of style to kill his/her opponent making a combo of the normal weapon moves. MK:TE is the only one to have it, since that the MK characters have Fatalities through their history that use his/her DA/TE/D/U/A weapon fighting style that are counted just as 'Fatality'; also, when one of those are performed, the announcer also says "FATALITY", in the same time that the game displays "WEAPON FATALITY". *Multality - Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks also features Multalities, which are Fatalities performed on multiple enemies at one time. This was the only Mortal Kombat game to ever use this finisher. *Heroic Brutality - In Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, many of the DC characters are superheroes who have sworn an oath against ever taking lives, Superman and Batman for example. Instead of performing Fatalities, they can perform Heroic Brutalities, which severely injure their opponent, but leave them alive to face justice. It should be noted, however, that villains from the DC Universe have no such oath, and perform Fatalities, not Heroic Brutalities. *Babality - The defeated characters turns into a baby, sitting on the floor and wearing a miniature version of their adult clothing and accessories and/or a diaper (nappy) while crying. In some versions, the sound effect of a baby crying plays, along with a lullaby, and the word "Babality" is spelt out by colored building blocks that fall from the top of the screen. The announcer then declares (Albeit unusually and unnervingly gently) "Babality!!" *Friendship - Instead of injuring the loser, the victor will make a peace offering, such as Sub-Zero using his powers to make a snowman, Scorpion startling his opponent with a skull in a Jack-in-the-Box, Liu Kang dancing while the disco ball appeared in the stage, or Johnny Cage offering a signed photo of himself. The announcer is generally disappointed when a match ends in Friendship, saying "Friendship. Friendship?" or "Friendship. Friendship? Again?" *Fergality - A finisher performed by Raiden in MKII for the Mega Drive, the defeated characters turns into Probe Ltd. employee Fergus McGovern, who worked on that port of the game. Stage Fatalities Stage Fatalities brought a new level of environment interaction within the series. A stage Fatality occurs when a player uses a part of the stage or map to execute a Fatality that is not a standard character Fatality. Some examples of stage Fatalities are having the victim fall into a pool of acid or a pit of razor-sharp spikes, or to be run over by a subway train. Stage Fatalities are present in the series from Mortal Kombat through Mortal Kombat Gold, Mortal Kombat: Deception's Puzzle Kombat,'' ''''Mortal Kombat: Armageddon's Motor Kombat and Mortal Kombat (2011), being absent from the series in several years.'' Death Trap Mortal Kombat: Deception and Armageddon features a modification of the traditional Stage Fatalities, the "Death Traps". The Death Traps does not need a special button combination as the opponent only needs to be either standing or hit in a particular spot on the stage. Unlike previous the Stage Fatalities, Death Traps can be initiated anytime during a round and only require the opponent be hit into them, meaning an instant victory. However, if they are not executed in the decisive round, the fight does not end, going on to the next round. This action acts as a ring out. Hara-Kiri The new kind of "Anti-Fatality" introduced in Deception is the Hara-Kiri. The Hara-Kiri (which is a type of Japanese ritual suicide, that literally means belly cut, is practiced when some person brings shame to his/her own family) is a move in which the defeated player kills him/herself upon defeat at the end of the last match, rather than be finished off by their opponent. This still results in a win for the character who was victorious in battle, it is just seen as an incredibly stylish way to go out. It is the first and so far only time in the Mortal Kombat series in which the defeated player is allowed to perform a finishing move. Each character has a different combination that can only be performed if the input corresponds to which character is defeated. The Hara-Kiri made its debut in Deception and seems to be a popular feature with the fans, although is not included in Mortal Kombat: Armageddon due to the limited Kreate-a-Fatality feature. Although it has been available only in Deception, in some previous MK games showed homicidal-suicidal Fatalities. The first one was Cyrax's "Self-Destruct" from Mortal Kombat 3/Ultimate/Trilogy/Gold/Advance; Cyrax, a cyborg, enters a code on to his arm panel and moments later explodes along with his opponent in a manner reminiscent of the ending of the first Predator movie. Smoke, in MK3, went farther with his Fatality since he destroys the whole planet with his bombs, including himself and his opponent. In MKG, Cyrax borrowed this Fatality from Smoke together with his own while Smoke adopted Cyrax's self-destruct as his Hara-Kiri in Deception. Raiden, in Deception, also has a Fatality in which he sends electricity to his opponent, who explodes, then it gets back at him exploding himself too. In Mortal Kombat (2011), Cyber Sub-Zero has a fatality where he jumps onto an opponent, freezes himself with them, and both explode to ice bits (though the opponent only had the bottom half of his body intact). Trivia Gallery Category:Moves Category:Mortal Kombat Category:M.U.G.E.N Category:Gameplay Category:Special Moves